War And Pieces

Reports out of Washington have Dodd doing an about-face on the CFPA, with a new willingness to sacrifice its creation as a means of breaking the bipartisan bickering that repeatedly tripped up the efforts to pass anything that even vaguely resembled serious financial services reform. Should Dodd follow through and agree to scrap CFPA, it will be an astonishing turn of events.
Even if the proposed agency stays in the legislation, the fact that Dodd would even consider dropping CFPA is a huge victory for the financial services industry, which lobbied furiously against its creation. For an industry that appeared to have little lobbying muscle at this time last year, it more than proved itself capable of standing up for what it believed in. Likewise, it is a victory for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the heads of the various regulatory agencies that opposed the concept of a CFPA - albeit for turf war concerns rather than perceived inadequacies in the proposal.

This month inHousingWire magazine

Eight years after we began recognizing women for their influential work in the expanding housing and mortgage finance ecosystem, a traditionally male-dominated field, our Women of Influence list is bigger and better than ever! This year, we honor 85 women who are making lasting achievements in each sector of the housing economy. Read on to learn more about these accomplished women and the strides they are making in their industry segments.

Feature

The financial world at large is experimenting with changing its workforce culture in ways not fathomable 10 years ago. For example, in 2011, the dress code for female workers at UBS came to light with unflattering results. In it, the Swiss bank instructed female employees on not just how to dress and how to smell, but also preached the importance for ladies to apply lotion after taking showers. Fast forward to today and fellow Swiss bank, Credit Suisse has now created an official role to boost equal opportunities and create a fair treatment environment. Has the American mortgage industry made similar progress?

Commentary

The conversation around student loan debt and its economic impact on Millennials, those born from 1980 to 1998, has some questioning whether the future of the American Dream is in jeopardy. The nation’s student loan debt has soared to $1.4 trillion, surpassing credit cards in becoming the largest source of personal debt outside a mortgage.